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The Sports Bank.net is a Midwest focused webzine featuring commentaries on the most stimulating topics and interviews with some of the biggest names in sports. It provides top notch content for the sports markets in seven Midwestern states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.

If you’re tired of all the Duke-North Carolina or Red Sox-Yankees stories incessantly produced by the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network, then you’ve come to the right place. It was founded in 2008 in Chicago by Paul M. Banks. The previous year, Banks was one of a group of twenty young American journalists selected to participate in a Fulbright fellowship program in Berlin.

His work has been featured in numerous media outlets including Deadspin, The Big Lead, USA Today, NBC, FOX, CBS, Chicago Tribune and more FOX, CBS, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and 670 The Score. Banks has also appeared as a guest commentator on Comcast Sports Net, ClearChannel, Chicago Tribune RedEye, ESPN Radio, and Sporting News Radio.

While a football beat reporter and sports columnist for the student daily at the University of Illinois, his work was regularly featured on ESPN.com. He also earned his MBA at Loyola University Chicago; starting his graduate study at Michigan State…in the same semester that they won the National Title in basketball.

Currently, Banks contributes to the Washington Times Community sports section. He assumes this position after putting in two years as a sports writer for NBC 5 Chicago’s website He also free-lances regularly for a number of publications including the immensely popular Walter Football.com which contracted him to start up their basketball content. In August of 2008 he was also selected as the city’s sports scene writer for the Chicago 2016 Olympic Channel.

In 2009, he became a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the United States Basketball Writers Association. He has seen hundreds of sporting events from press row including the NCAA Final Four, Stanley Cup Playoffs, NCAA bowl games and the NBA Playoffs.

Much of The Sports Bank’s content is prominently featured on Fox Sports’ homepage, distributed through the Yardbarker Network. In summer of 2010, Banks became the Big Ten blogger for the Tribune’s Chicago Now network.

THESPORTSBANK.net STARTING LINEUP is:

President/CEO- Paul M. Banks

Staff: David Kay, Jake McCormick, Paul Schmidt, Peter Christian, Melissa S. Wollering, Soxman, Mike Gallagher, Bryan Vickroy, Justin Mertes-Mistretta, Bob Wirz, Hans Hetrick, Karla Bruning, Patrick Herbert

The Sports Bank’s Staff Writers/Alumni in the Mainstream Media

These are current or former Sports Bank contributors who have made their presence felt in the mainstream sports media

Paul M. Banks- NBC Chicago, Fox Sports.com, Washington Times.com, Chicago Now (Tribune Media)

Trenni Kusnierek- MLB Network, Fox Sports Wisconsin

Sarah Spain- ESPN 1000, WGN television, Fox Sports West

Bob Wirz- Former Kansas City Royals PR director, Chief Spokesman for MLB Commissioners Kuhn and Ueberroth

George Ofman- WGN Radio, 670 the Score

Soxman- Chicago Tribune Red Eye, 2005 MLB World Series Video

Karla Bruning- Newsweek, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Times-Picayune, Orlando Sentinel, Sports Editor, Washington Times Communities